SJ 4ever
by Era Dubois
Summary: Sally was feeling...alone. Jareth was lonely. What happens when two worlds collide and the Pumpkin King must stare down the Goblin King? It shouldn't be hard, Jack doesn't have eyelids.
1. Chapter 1

_**I do not own Nightmare Before Christmas or Labyrinth **_

**S+J 4ever**

Years passed in the town of Halloween. Santa had long ago returned to Christmas Town and Jack was happy. You would never see him without his patented ghoulish grin, but then, something changed. He stopped smiling, he stopped going out, and he even stopped talking to Sally.

**The Day Before Halloween  
**

"Jack? Jack, I'm going to go for a walk. Do you want to join me?" Sally leaned down and saw Jack's eyes unfocused, as he stared at the book he was 'reading'. "Jack?"

He waved a dismissing hand and Sally stood up straight and walked to the table. She grabbed her spool of thread and tucked it into her dress. She saw a glow of red at Jack's feet.

"Zero, would you like to go for a walk?" Her only answer was a ghostly whimper.

"Fine," She went to the door and looked at the inconsolable Pumpkin King, "Goodbye Jack."

Then she was gone.

Literally, she was gone.

The Pumpkin King stood angrily at his desk. _Where did she go?! _

He slammed his fist onto the hard wood when another ghoul came to say she wasn't where _they _had looked.

He glared at everyone, and then patted his leg to call Zero. "I am going out to look again."

The Mayor's head swiveled revealing the hysterical side to the politician. "But, Jack, we can't _afford_ to lose you too!"

Jack sneered at them as he left the house. "That's the best way to find something that's lost!" Then he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

_**I Do Not Own Labyrinth or Nightmare Before Christmas**_

**S+J 4ever**

Jack walked out to the grove where he had found his inspiration years before, but that is when something strange truly occurred. There was a trail of something that sparkled, somewhat like the snow of Christmastown. It was not snow, it was glitter. Zero whined and Jack leaned down to rub his ears, "I know boy, we're on the right track."

Dog and Master walked past a little man and straight into the maze of green.

The Pumpkin King prided himself on his fairly cool head, (it does come off, so he can recite Shakespearean quotations), but now he was losing it. The odd little men kept asking the same riddle, as he thought. "One of us is always lying."

Jack took a deep calming breath, "And what happens if I choose wrong?"

The four of them look at each other, "One door leads to the castle…and the other leads to…certain death…ba-ba-booom!"

Jack bares his teeth and bites back a growl. "Never mind!" Jack yanked open one of the doors, took a step, and fell.

He looked around and found hands holding him aloft. "Up…or…down?"

The hands made faces and Jack began to think, "Up."

A very confused expression was communicated by all of the hands, except those carrying Jack up. When Jack finally crawled over the mouth of the pit, he could hear, echoing out, "He chose…Up?"

Jack kept walking, he was on the right path now, he knew it; he could practically feel Sally here. Then, however, he saw a tree and had the strangest compulsion to pick a fruit and take a bite. Soon he was holding one of the golden, fuzzy peaches in his skeletal hand.

He took a bite and felt…tired. He could hear Zero whimpering, but it was distant now. He was sitting at a dining table in a room, warmly lit. Nearly no shadows danced along the flowery papered walls and he noticed he wasn't wearing his pinstriped suit. He was wearing a white buttoned down shirt with the cuffs rolled up to his forearms. His forearms, which were now covered with flesh and dusted with dark hair, he picked up the silver charger in front of him and examined his features. How long had it been, since he had that dark wavy hair? How long had it been, since he saw that soft sensible mouth and those evergreen eyes? How long had it been since he was alive?

He heard Zero's tail thumping against the table and looked underneath to see his old friend. How long had it been, since Zero had fur and _looked _like a beagle? Jack looked, really looked, and tried to find something missing. He could feel it, this gaping hole. He sat and thought, and then stood with such speed he frightened the poor canine, "Sally."

Jack woke up to find that he had been leaning against a tree in the courtyard of the Goblin King's castle. He stood and patted his leg to beckon Zero. "Time to save Sally."

Sally sat at the long table in the Goblin dining hall, looking at her host, to whom she was sitting on the adjacent corner of their end of the table. "Your majesty, I don't think she _meant _to hurt you."

Jareth sulked, "She left the Underground, for the world above. How could she not know that would hurt me?"

Sally smiled with a hint of sadness. "If she truly loves you, she'll come back, and she _will_."

Jareth looked at the little rag doll of a woman with her patched dress; _she could fit right in with the goblins here. _"How do you know she will be back?"

Sally put her hand on his and smiled brighter, "I can sense it on the wind."

Jack was running through the castle, when he came to a room where he couldn't find up. "Well I know how to fix that!" He walked straight through and found himself in the shadowy frame of a dining room door. He saw Sally with…another man? Then he heard her, "I sense it on the wind." What was she doing, comforting another man (_another king_) and smiling that smile? She was his friend!

Jack began stomping toward the two of them, ignoring the gaping mouths of the goblins at the table. Before he could reach them, though, there was a puff of smoke and a young woman stepped into the dining hall. Sarah looked at the two strangers, and then put a hand on her hip, glaring down the Goblin King. "Jareth, did you steal someone again?" Jareth said nothing. "Jareth," She said in exasperation. "I leave for a few hours to attend my little brother's fifth birthday and you _steal_ a woman?!"

Jareth stood up, "I didn't steal her, and she came here _on her own_."

Sarah looked at Jareth and sighed at his kicked-puppy look, "You didn't steal her?" He shook his head 'no'. She looked at Sally, "He didn't steal you?"

Sally smiled sheepishly, "No, I came on my own."

Jack looked at her, and she finally noticed he was there. "Why would you run away?"

Sally looked away, "You were acting like I wasn't there, so I figured…you wouldn't care if I left."

Jack looked down at Zero, who was wagging his tail in glee at them finding Sally. "I do care." He said it so quietly, she didn't hear.

Sally looked at him, "Why did you come to find me?"

Jack closed the distance between them and wrapped her in a hug. He spoke into her hair, "Because you're my best friend."

Sally blushed and wrapped her arms around his middle, hugging him tight. "You're my best friend too, Jack."

Jareth and Sarah watched the proceedings and Sarah nudged him in the side. "Well," she whispered, "Put them back."

Jareth looked at the two and then looked down at _his_ best friend. He wrapped an arm around her waist and the two visitors disappeared in a puff of glitter.

Jareth looked at the goblins, frozen as they watched the scene, "Well, eat."

**The End**

**A/N** **Thank You Kuronekko 388 for the inspiration in your forum post, and thank you readers, **

**Era Dubois**


End file.
